Effects of pruning and nutrient application on yield and quality of ber under hot arid environment

A three-year experiment was conducted to assess effect of different time of pruning (P1: 15th May, P2: 30th May, P3: 15th June and P4: 30th June) and nutrient management (N1: control, N2: 500 g N + 500 g P2O5+ 250 g K2O, N3: 1000 g N + 750 g P2O5+ 500 g K2O and N4: 1500 g N + 1000 g P2O5+ 750 g K2O per tree) treatments on fruit yield and quality of 10-year-old established orchard of ber cv. Gola on Ziziphus rotundifolia rootstock under hot arid environment conditions. The time of pruning, nutrient application and their interaction had significant influence on fruit yield. The fruit set increased with delay in pruning time and nutrient application. The pruning at 30th May and 15th June recorded 30.9 and 39.6% higher fruit yield, respectively compared to pruning at 15th May. Application of nutrient had significant influence on fruit yield, and the yield obtained with N2, N3 and N4 were 27.7, 43.2 and 52.7% higher than control (N1). The results suggest that pruning at 15th June should be combined with application of 1000 g N + 750 g P2O5 + 500 g K2O per tree to achieve higher and quality fruit yields in ber under hot arid environment.